Warren: STAAR test better method, will pose challenges at first

Published 12:00 pm, Wednesday, April 13, 2011

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Even as the school district prepares for TAKS testing next week, Superintendent Ryder Warren said they're looking ahead to the fall when a new and more rigorous standardized exam is introduced in public schools.

"Academically we're at a time in our lives where things are changing for us," Warren said, speaking during the community workshop at Wednesday's Midland County Republican Women's meeting.

New curriculum is being implemented, teachers are preparing for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and budget cuts continue being debated in Austin, Warren said.

"New curriculum, new assessment, less money to get ready," he said.

And while the timing of the first STAAR tests isn't ideal because of anticipated budget restrictions, Warren said the format of the test is supposed to be better than any other standardized exam Texas children have been subjected to in the past.

The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) format always contained some questions teachers didn't know to prepare for, but STAAR exams are written to test students on the curriculum they're learning anyway.

"It's always been a guessing game for teachers. Curriculum should match the new test," Warren said. "That's going to take state testing to a whole level of which we've never seen before."

That new level, though, will mean a bit of an adjustment period for both instructors and students. Warren said it's projected children who miss only a few questions on the TAKS test will be "just passing" under the new STAAR standards, he said.

For example, he said, in sample testing that has occurred, only 18 percent of students passed the STAAR algebra exam with percentages for Social Studies and other subjects not looking much better.

That's part of the reason they're making some changes within the district, including the consideration of turning Carver Center into a gifted and talented magnet school instead of a pull-out program. Those students likely are the ones excelling on TAKS tests now. But, if they want to do equally well on the STAAR exams, they can't be missing their normal instruction for gifted and talented services, Warren said.

"We know this is going to be a much more rigorous exam than anything we've seen before," he said.

The assessment includes new exams for those in third through eighth grades and also 12 end-of-course tests students will have to pass to graduate from high school, according to the Texas Education Agency. Students starting the eighth grade in the fall will be the first group to take the end-of-course exams. Those already in high school still will need to pass TAKS standards, Warren said, answering questions from those in attendance on Wednesday.

Anyone who fails a STAAR exam will be provided extra tutoring, he said. Because of budget cuts, Warren said that will be one of the tricky parts of implementing the tests and serving all levels of students because they'll have to allocate funds to those tutoring programs over other things if they have a limited amount of resources. Eventually, though, Warren said the STAAR test should be a great improvement over what's been in Texas public schools during the last several years.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," he said.

A new state ranking system also will be implemented in 2013 as a result of the tests, according to the Texas Education Agency.